This, but with an option “hard mode”: you instantly resign if by misclick or other, you click the board again 
2 Likes
make me think we could have a global player setting (including hardcore/standard/lazy)
2 Likes
Tsumego Solver AI.
Then we need also a dorky piece set a bit like Lichess (horsey piece set?) - I don’t know, a scrambled-looking stone or something!
1 Like
we need mostly pop up telling you " Are you sure?" " We don’t take any responsibility"… and so on.
2 Likes
Have an option where new-to-OGS go players can play a few games (less than 10) against bots of various strengths to initialize their rank before playing other users. Just an idea. Take it or leave it.
4 Likes
Aaah please no. Never!
2 Likes
Some beginners challenge too high ranked people/bots and lose all their games. They learn nothing and stop playing because always losing is boring.
Message with clear explanation about ranks should automatically appear for new users who keep losing, even if they play unranked games. It should encourage them to challenge someone with lower rank and finally win at least once.
9 Likes
Seriously, we can see example of such beginner in recent topic:
2 full pages of games and no single green line. A lot of SDK opponents. Why that user challenges them? Because there is not enough clear explanation on visible place!
4 Likes
Absolutely! Besides let’s put a big flashy button in the play page with “beginner here!” And a standard custom settings well preformed.
3 Likes
I find it a bit odd that someone would challenge random people without looking for a ranking system.
Wouldn’t one assume that any 1v1 game is governed by a ranking? Whether it be bare Elo, kyu / dan, gold–silver–bronze etc. So you’d research the ranking system and look for how it’s displayed in the UI.
If new OGS players are coming from IRL play, they are aware of kyu / dan.
If they’re arriving from chess then they’re familar with the idea of ranking.
To even travel from games like Starcraft, Rocket League, or competitive Bloons Tower Defense implies a knowledge that there are stronger and weak players who are differentiated by rating.
No?
3 Likes
No…
… no…
… and no for me, but I guess everyone else is?
5 Likes
Was Go literally the first competitive thing you ever did?
Now that I think about it, I would like a separate entrance that says “ENTER HERE IF YOU DIDN’T COME FROM CHESS” and gather my little tribe.
13 Likes
I also did not come from chess (@Gia - please send me tribe application form 
). It also did not occur to me that there would be any kind of rank / rating system. How can you assume there will be some system if you have no concept of such a system?
However, I did find out about rank / rating very quickly. In fact, I think when I signed up for DGS it said “what’s your rank?”, I thought “huh?” so I checked the FAQs and then I knew
6 Likes
Not sure about chess and IRL fights, but I’m very sure competitive video games don’t flood you with ranking information at the beginning.
You just click “Matchmaking” and the game give you a proper match (most likely with a beginner bot pretending to be another player so you can get your first win and don’t quit the game).
Many games don’t let players touch the concept of ELO or MMR until very late into the game, and encourage them to play in a “grinding” fashion until they reach a certain level (for example leagues of legend, world of warcraft etc)
9 Likes
Some forum threads should have a kibitz option.
3 Likes
Not sure “everyone secretly wants” is true here but I played a few games on Board Game Arena over the weekend with friends and noticed, if it’s your first time, your username includes a note next to it: “This is my first game, thank you for helping me!” or something like that. Seems friendly, wonder how it is in practice for newcomers.
16 Likes
Display “rank-equivalent” scores for each player after a game has been analyzed.
I wonder if you could train a neural net to estimate a player’s rank from a single game record? Hmmmm.
1 Like
O that’s interesting idea. Bring your kifu(s) when you register and an AI evaluates your ranking.
1 Like